I remember when this movie was released to theaters in the late 90s. This was something I had wanted to see but unfortunately none of the movie theaters my parents (Yes, I was a kid and needed rides) would take me to were showing it. I have come to learn that this film only lasted a few weeks in the theaters and tanked. As decent of a film it is, I can understand why it didn't have wide reception. Not much publicity plus this was a cultish horror film competing with manufactured horrors like I Know What You Did Last Summer, Scream, and Urban Legend, along with an endless assortment of straight to video wannabe flicks that would fill up the shelves at Blockbuster. Not even Robert Englunds name gave this film much box office success. At first glance Strangeland may come off as a little gimmicky considering it's a film both written by and starring Dee Snider from the group Twisted Sister.
The film is about a body modification psycho who uses chatrooms to find victims to rape, torture, and kill. He uses the screen name "Captain Howdy," a wink for any fan of the Exorcist and remembers the Ouiga board talk, who preys mostly on teenagers under the guise that they will be meeting up some young cool guy who is hosting a house party. Once he captures them he uses torture methods similar to his own body mods and ancient techniques. Eventually his cyber spree catches up for he abducts Genevieve, a young teen who's father is a detective. Of course he hops on the case and eventually rescues her and Captain Howdy (Snider) gets put away. Four years after the state lets him out and he is a changed "sane" man. Robert Englund and a bunch of red neck locals get together to restore justice and lynch Captain Howdy. However, they fail, his medication wears off, and he is back to being the tattoo'd face pink haired psycho and comes after the detective and his daughter.
What I love about this movie is how it coheasively covers a large variety of topics in a short time span. This was the height of the internet craze when teens would disguise themselves as being cooler than they really are in chat rooms and meet people online. Strangeland plays up on this cyber trend at it's peak. The problem with this movie is that it wouldn't really work in this day and age unless CaptainHowdy was on Facebook or on dating apps like OkCupid. But then again, thats half the fun with this film...it's a time capsule showcasing what typical teenage life was like in the late 90s. Dee Snider of Twisted Sister also wrote and starred in this, which in my opinion, paved way for other artists to cross the music to screen writing boundaries like Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson.
Another great aspect of Strangeland is that this is probably one of the first movies out there that really revolved around the subculture of body modifications and goth/metal music. We do have films like The Crow , The Hunger, and Return of the Living Dead which reference these sorts of subcultures, but none to go that deeply into it as Strangeland. The idea of having a villain with pink hair, dozens of body piercings, gages, and even have half of his entire body including his face tattoo'd is pretty unique and almost believable. We have all seen those people who take body modification art to the extreme (usually managers at Hottopic), but never have we seen it taken to the level where its mixed with torture. Dee Snider plays the role well as a cocky arrogant prick with zero fucks given. This guy is pretty bad ass and awesome looking...totally would be his friend.
Some may argue that this movie needed more of a backstory about Captain Howdy...like why is he crazy, whats the story behind is body mods, etc. Also, none of the characters were really that special or memorable. Personally, I don't think a back story is relevant at all. This film focuses on the situation at hand and wants the viewer to take home that fear of talking to psycho's on the internet, or even think twice about calling someone who looks different a "freak". I highly recommend this film if you are feeling 90s nostalgia and love all things metal.
